Ashburn, Va. — The Riverside High School field hockey team came out in a hurry against Loudoun County High School on September 9 in Ashburn, scoring two quick goals in the first two minutes of the game. Riverside sophomore Lydia Oldknow scored at the 28:19 mark off a slick, reverse shovel pass by junior Kellen Richbourg.
Just 19 seconds after the first goal, Riverside junior Gurnoor Dhaliwal scored off another well-designed assist from Richbourg – who dribbled toward top of circle and flipped the ball left to an open Dhaliwal. Dhaliwal connected on a hard shot to the left corner of the goal.
The Rams would get the ball back from the Raiders time and again in the first half, attack the circle, but be swallowed up substantially by relentless corner defense by Raider freshman Olivia DeWan and sophomore Alyssa Markell. Where DeWan, Markell, and the other Raiders could not keep the Rams contained, Loudoun County sophomore backstopper Gillian Deeb saved the day, so to speak, for the team. On the night, despite a final score of 8-0 in favor of Riverside, Deeb had a whopping 57 saves.
[adrotate banner=”10″]Despite having possession nearly 98% of the game and taking more than 70 shots on the game, Riverside would not score again from the 28-minute mark to the 11-minute mark in the first half. The third goal was scored by Richbourg on a put in from a shot by Oldknow. The fourth goal was scored, unassisted, by senior Amelie Fieser at the 6:06 mark of the first half. The fifth and final goal of the first half was scored on a nice penalty corner set play, with an insert by junior Eva Yacura to Dhaliwal.
In the first two minutes of the second half, the Raiders got their first circle penetration, but could not put a shot on goal. The second half was scoreless for ten minutes, but did see a beautiful backhand chip shot to the top of the goal by Richbourg that was nicely blocked by Deeb. The sixth goal of the game was scored at the 19:59 mark of the second half on an unassisted shot by Oldknow. Goal No. 7 was scored by Fieser on a penalty corner where she was the inserter and Yacura received the ball at the top of the circle. Yacura took a hard shot to the left side of the goal, and it was deftly tipped up and in by Fieser at the 17:45 mark.
The eighth and final goal of the contest, before it was mercy-rule shortened was another tip in off a hard shot by Yacura from the edge of the circle. Junior Grace Keefe got the tip in goal at the 16:30 mark of the second half.
